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Twisty Baby™ Black Locust - Robinia pseudoacacia 'Lacy
Lady'
Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae) /
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3
Height: 60-70' Spread: 40-50' Habit / Form: Upright
Being a member of the Legume family, the Black Locust is
related to the
Kentucky Coffee Tree
and the vine
Wisteria, among others. |
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Twisty Baby™ describes the corkscrew growth habit |
Black locust, sometimes called yellow locust,
grows naturally on a wide range of sites but does
best on rich moist limestone soils. It has escaped
cultivation and become naturalized throughout
eastern North America and parts of the West. Black
locust is not a commercial timber species but is
useful for many other purposes. Because it is a
nitrogen fixer and has rapid juvenile growth, it is
widely planted as an ornamental, for shelterbelts,
and for land reclamation. It is suitable for
fuelwood and pulp and provides cover for wildlife,
browse for deer, and cavities for birds.
Black locust has a disjunct original range, the
extent of which is not accurately known. The eastern
section is centered in the Appalachian Mountains and
ranges from central Pennsylvania and southern Ohio,
south to northeastern Alabama, northern Georgia, and
northwestern South Carolina. The western section
includes the Ozark Plateau of southern Missouri,
northern Arkansas, and northeastern Oklahoma, and
the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas and
southeastern Oklahoma. Outlying populations appear
in southern Indiana and Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama,
and Georgia. Black locust has been planted widely
and has become naturalized throughout the United
States, southern Canada, and parts of Europe and
Asia.
'Twisty Baby' is a horticultural selection,
propagated by grafting, with contorted branches and
leaves. What makes the tree especially appealling is
the tightly growing leaf clusters that hang down,
very much like wisteria blooms. Because black
locusts produce new terminal growth all summer long,
until leaf fall in autumn, the growing tips are
always a fresh apple green color; the leaflets curl
up, showing a greyish underside, and the mature
leaves a deep, bluish green. The lovely multi-tone
effect thus created lasts the entire summer. In
winter, the twisted branches have great character as
well.
The leading branches of this fast grower (45 cm per
year, though some of the growth is downward) can be
trained easily by the artistic gardener to a shape
that will emphasize their contorted nature,
especially when grown as a multi-stemmed specimen.
It can reach a height exceeding 3 m, spreading
almost as much. Black locusts bloom on mature trees,
but 'Twisty Baby' does not bloom reliably. When it
does, it produces hanging clusters of white,
pea-like blooms with a sweet fragrance; understated,
yet spectacular. |
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Flowering and Fruiting -
The fragrant, whitish flowers, borne in
showy racemes, appear after leaf emergence
in May or June. The perfect flowers
originate in the axils of current year
leaves and are pollinated by insects,
primarily bees. The fruit is a flattened,
oblong pod that ripens during September and
October. The fruit opens on the tree and
seeds are dispersed from September to April.
Damaging Agents- Black locust is severely
damaged by insects and disease, probably
more than any other eastern hardwood
species. Ubiquitous attacks by the locust
borer (Megacyllene robiniae) and by the
heart rot fungi Phellinus rimosus or
Polyporus robiniophilus make growing black
locust for timber production impractical.
Locust borer larvae construct feeding
tunnels throughout the wood, and the holes
serve as entry points for heart rot fungi
that cause extensive wood decay. Locust
borer attacks can begin at a young age and
damage can be so extensive that trees are
not suitable for fence posts. Many
plantations planted in reclamation projects
were seriously damaged, but more trees could
be used if cut as soon as they reach post or
mine-prop size. Slow-growing trees on poor
sites are most susceptible to borer attack.
On sites where tree vigor is low, repeated
attacks often reduce black locust to sprout
clumps. Damage to the sprouts is often as
severe as in the original stem.
Locust Borer Beetle, Megacyllene robiniae
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Twisty Baby Black Locust |
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Outbreaks of the locust
leafminer (Odontota dorsalis) occur almost
yearly. Black locust trees throughout an
entire region are often defoliated, and
during years of low rainfall many are
killed. Attacks by the locust twig borer
(Ecdytolopha insiticiana) occur over a wide
area and in heavily infested areas seedling
mortality may be high. Black locust is
attacked by a wide variety of other insects
that cause some degree of damage. Common
diseases are heart rot and witches' broom
disease, caused by a virus, Chlorogenus
robiniae. In the southern Appalachians most
large trees are infected with heart rot and
decay of trunk wood is extensive. In the
Texas root-rot belt, black locust is
extremely susceptible to Phymatotrichum
omnivorum. In New Brunswick, plantings of
black locust are not recommended because of
high mortality and dieback of branches
caused by Nectria cinnabarina and because of
superior performance by conifer species.
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